Katie Lou Samuelson verbals to UConn

Katie Lou Samuelson averaged 26 points and 10 rebounds as a junior at Mater Dei and was named the California Gatorade player of the year.

No. 1 has landed No. 1.

Katie Lou Samuelson, the No. 1 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 for the 2015 class, has committed to Connecticut.

Read more

No. 1 is off the board, but four of the top 10 prospects in the 2015 class, including No. 2 Asia Durr, remain undeclared. Super 60

"I really wanted to play for Coach [Geno] Auriemma," said Samuelson, who was named the California Gatorade player of the year for the 2013-14 season. "I want to push myself to be the best, I wanted to play for the best."

Samuelson, a 6-foot-3 wing from Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California, had narrowed her list to UConn, UCLA, Stanford, Kentucky and Notre Dame before deciding on the Huskies. Her two older sisters, Bonnie and Karlie, play for Stanford.

Samuelson, who averaged 26 points and 10 rebounds as a junior at Mater Dei, will be attending the USA Basketball U17 trials in Colorado Springs this week. She won a gold medal last summer representing Team USA at the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championships in Mexico. She started all five games and averaged 16 points and five-plus rebounds.

She becomes the third player from the 2015 class to commit to the two-time reigning champs. She joins Napheesa Collier, a 6-1 wing from Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis, Missouri, and the No. 5 prospect in the class; and DeJanae Boykin, a 6-2 forward from C.H. Flowers in Springdale, Maryland, and the No. 10 prospect in the class.

The last time UConn landed a No. 1 recruit was 2012, when Breanna Stewart chose the Huskies. Stewart, the espnW 2014 player of the year, was part of a class that also included Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck.